Combination ovens that are capable of cooking using more than one heating source (e.g., convection, steam, microwave, etc.) have been in use for decades. Each cooking source comes with its own distinct set of characteristics. Thus, a combination oven can typically leverage the advantages of each different cooking source to attempt to provide a cooking process that is improved in terms of time and/or quality.
As an example, microwave cooking may be faster than convection or other types of cooking. Thus, microwave cooking may be employed to speed up the cooking process, while another heat source may be used to achieve browning. Controlling an oven to employ some level of automation with regard to utilization of multiple heat sources or multiple stages of cooking has been undertaken by employing cooking programs that are sometimes referred to as “recipes”. The programs or recipes typically define specific oven control instructions like time periods over which heat is to be applied using any of a variety of sources and the corresponding power levels of the equipment to be employed in connection with each of the sources. However, the programs or recipes are typically static in nature and the programs execute in the same manner each time they are executed. Moreover, the programs or recipes are typically merely a recitation of steps, processes or ingredients that are generic in nature.